Kathleen Neary

Kathy Neary was a force of nature. Born in 1949, the oldest of Jack and
Kath Neary's four children, she was the only girl-and she clearly
demonstrated that women are not the weaker gender.
She grew up in Clifton, New Jersey, and eventually the family moved to Ohio. After college
she became a flight attendant, and then she learned to fly planes herself by
crop-dusting and other unusual forms of flight training; she soon became
one of the first female professional airline pilots in the industry. As such
she traveled everywhere, in the U.S. and abroad, a true adventurer, afraid
of nothing (well, except for spiders and scorpions!). She had the most
eclectic of tastes-she loved Steph Curry, the New York Yankees, Broadway
star Patti LuPone, Charles Barkley, Dean Martin, and cats (the animals, not
the musical!). Her sense of humor was boundless-she had a distinctive
and exuberant laugh, and a wonderful ability to laugh at herself. Her later
years were a struggle, with illness and pain, but she was helped
tremendously by the staff of Brookdale Senior Living in Scottsdale, AZ, by
her dear and generous friend Jeannine Moyle (whom Kathy's family thanks
and treasures), by her beloved cousin Fran Brydon Lyons, and ultimately by
the kindness of a fine team of Hospice workers, especially Liz Toci.
Kathy, who passed away on December 5, 2025, is preceded in death by her
parents, Jack and Kath Neary, and is survived by her three brothers, John,
James, and Michael Neary.
The world is a much less colorful place without
her.